Willets Point

All things Mets.
All right, some other things, too

Today should be an interesting day of flux in recent Mets history. Whats going to happen next, what really happened over the last few days? Do we get Delgado, and just what did those MRI results show?

Kaley has a great post today talking about the question marks that are all over this Mets roster. Said it before and I'll say it again, I think that Mientkiewicz is a better fit for this team, and I'm not sure that Delgado is made for an NL roster as he creeps higher and higher up the age tree. But still, they definitely have my attention. That'll do for now, I guess.

Elsewhere, I'm really burned up about this Washington stuff. I can't believe that the DC City Council could let this happen. I, for one, was very interested in this DC team, and I think that the whole NL East should be excited for the day when all of this movement and uncertainty is finally over. It's just getting annoying, really. I think that Linda Cropp tried to hoodwink MLB, and I don't think that she did it for any particularly noble reasons. But at the end of the day, maybe she'll end up looking like the hero. Who knows.

Pedro's being introduced tomorrow. It was obviously a given -- press leaks are always handled very carefully. I am curious as to just what that MRI showed. Obviously, it wasn't terrible, or they would have gone back on the handshake deal (for other examples of going back on deals, see: DC City Council).

But I don't think that the results were perfect. If I had to guess, Omar and friends looked over the results and wondered how much they, and Pedro when he's on the mound, could get away with.

Not worried, but I do wish there was some way to FOIA those results. Oh well.

Klapisch and Popper at the Bergen Record are reporting that the Mets are big into Delgado right now.

I don't have much of an opinion on that. On the one hand, having owned him on my fantasy team, I can tell you just how bad Delgado's first half was last year. When a guy like Delgado is on your bench, it raises red flags. He definitely turned it around in a big way, and to some degree, his final line might be more impressive when you consider just how bad the first three months were. He's coming from Skydome, with its huge 1.128 park factor, and moving to Shea. We've all seen what happens to sluggers in the unfriendly confines of Flushing (how ya doing, Jeromy Burnitz?).

Delgado strikes me as an AL player. He's better than serviceable at first base, certainly better than Piazza, but how many 30-plus stars do we need to keep welcoming to our home before we realize that the same thing keeps happening?

I think Delgado will help the Mets in the short term. I'd really stress against anything more than a three-year deal.

But let me get this out of the way: any and all talk about the God Bless America stuff is just ridiculous, for several reasons. First, it was a silent protest. He didn't like what was going on, he didn't want to stand for the song. But he didn't run out to the pitcher's mound, take a microphone, and proclaim that he was sitting this one out. Quite the opposite. He didn't say a word until he was asked by the media. He would merely retreat to the clubhouse, not sit in the dugout to make a scene. Agree with him or not, he wasn't asking for the attention.

And second, THEY DON'T PLAY GOD BLESS AMERICA AT SHEA! They stopped. Are people really concerned with what he'll do during "Lazy Mary?" UPDATE: Apparently, the Mets do play God Bless America on weekends and holidays. My apologies.

If it's true, it's a good deal. I hate the fourth year -- the fourth year is absolutely a terrible thing to have to deal with. But the Mets had to deal with the fourth year. The fact is that while Stark may disagree, Pedro still has at least something left. And when you think about it, the shrewd Boston front office, the one that everyone celebrated when they won the Series, was willing to give Pedro three years, with an option for the fourth.

So if you want to talk about going out on a limb, you're talking about only one year. And I think that a team like the Mets, if they're to climb out of this whole, getting a couple years of a surefire HOFer, and one of the greatest pitchers of this generation is not such a bad thing. I agree with Rhoden, who says it's all worthwhile.

Anyhow, I'll believe it when it's official. But I'm certainly not upset.

So here's the newest rumor: Manny to the Mets ... I like it. I don't love it, but it's something.
I think that the Mets are still stuck in some bizarre and unconscionable world in which they are a small-market team. When you hear about Drayton McLane in Houston making a low-ball offer to Beltran, you say, "Well, that's not a huge market, Beltran loves the area, maybe it could work." The Mets can't operate like that, because whether the Wilpons like it or not, no one's unsure about the size of New York's market. No agent would ever believe that the Mets "can't afford" to up their offer, and when they don't that agent finds another team that will.
We weren't willing to offer the money that it would take to bring Guerrero to New York, so instead we decided to make a lowball offer and hope that a guy who had said all along that he didn't want to play in New York would accept it. He doesn't, and suddenly he has a back problem of some sort, and that's why we don't want him. We can't expect to woo free agents based on the charm of our fair city, because our city has something that means a lot more to baseball players and agents -- money. If we won't pony it up, someone else will.
So back to Manny ... maybe he's wrong for us at this particular time. But we CAN afford him. I'm as big a fan as anyone of staying within a budget and building a team according to some plan (someone tell me if they can think of one). But I don't like a budget for budget's sake. The Mets are going to make money. Next year, with the RSN, they'll be making even more. We can pay Manny, so to not do so for reasons of an invisible budget just doesn't make sense.
If you're going to stay away from Manny for money reasons, provide a viable alternative. Nope, Moises Alou doesn't count.

Moving on, JD Drew is a terrible option. Truly terrible. The guy is purely unlikeable, for one. Who needs him. But we've been talking about Richie Sexson, who's had one injury in his career, as injury prone. But J.D. Drew? J.D. DREW! The guy just played 145 games this season and it was his career high. For him, 100-game seasons are the norm. Considering the seeming curse of coming to the Mets anyhow, does anyone at all see him playing more than 35 games this season? Anyone?

So Carl Pavano decided to join the Evil Empire. Obviously, I'm never happy with such developments -- I prefer it when the Yankees pick up guys like Kevin Brown, Kenny Lofton, etc.
But I think it bears mentioning that Pavano, perhaps due to a bevy of middle-of-the-road free agent pitchers available this year, has enjoyed hype far exceeding his worth.

A few numbers to consider:
Career record - 57-58
Career ERA - 4.21
Career Starts - 149
Career K/9 - 5.92

As far as numbers go, they're certainly not bad. But remember when Josh Beckett was considered the next great pitcher after the '03 World Series? Pavano strikes me the same way, with one exception -- he's 29. That's young by this year's free agent standards, and certainly young for the Yankees, but it's not like he's just finding his groove. He's had one great season in his career (this past one) and another good one. One year does not a great pitcher make.
Definitely a good pickup for the Yankees -- that's undeniable. But I wouldn't start planning the parade just yet.

So, it doesn't look like the Mets are going to make any real noise at these meetings, especially as it looks like Pedro is content in Beantown, Sexson's going to Seattle, Delgado to Baltimore, etc, etc, etc. To be honest, not such a bad thing.
I don't really mind any of that (although I would like for Minaya to get over his fascination with overpaid, over-aged Chicago outfielders), but I think that Sexson's gotten a bad rap over these last few weeks. Good defensively, huge power that's stadium proof (remember this 503-foot homer from last season?) and a good clubhouse presence. For years, the talk about him was how he was anything but injury prone, so any judgments are being based entirely on one issue (alright, two check-swing issues) from last season. I think he's worth a shot.
All in all, my opinions on Minaya are changing every day. On the one hand, I love that he's running fast enough to break down anything in his way -- I like his energy, that's for sure. On the other hand, I can't get it out of my head that we welcomed this guy like the savior without paying attention to the fact that he was there for all the Stevie Phillips shenanigans. We'll see what happens ...